


Shared Ownership

by Runespoor



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: F/M, Gen, Identity Issues, M/M, Meta, Scary Bat God
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-18
Updated: 2011-03-18
Packaged: 2017-10-17 02:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runespoor/pseuds/Runespoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The difference between Batgirl and Robin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shared Ownership

Robins are for Batman.

It's different for the Batgirls; they have taken part of his name but they're less his.

They understand the mission on their own terms. They're part of the family, but they're apart. They are the ones deciding when and how and if they will put on a costume. They'll have to earn the right to keep it; but they never have to worry about the right to invent it. Batgirl isn't theirs, but she isn't Batman's either.

Batgirl gets to choose when to fold the costume.

The Robins, though, are here for him and because of him.

There are implications there; you don't have to peel much of the cape to read beneath.

Robin's mask leaves as little of his identity to the imagination as it can get away with, and none of his smiles. Robin's legs are naked shaved and shapely, or her hair loose and fluttering like the hem of her skirt. Robin's cloak is black on the outside, but when it falls open, it displays the perfect negative of a tight body against bright gold.

Everyone knows the implications. Expectations; murmurs ripened with time.

The villains know them and play on them like fiddles to emphasize the birds' trills and never confirm nor deny their accuracy. The police deal with them like they do with Batman, only more so. Gotham has gained something of a reputation.

The Robins ignore the expectations with grace and more than a little smugness; and maybe, when the expression they catch on Batman's face has never been directed at them, with a hint of childish dread.

Robin is all Batman's, so Robin is all theirs, until the moment it's ripped away from them. Then it flies away from Batman, as well.


End file.
